Splunk SPL for SQL users

This is not a perfect mapping between SQL and Splunk Search Processing Language (SPL), but if you are familiar with SQL, this quick comparison might be helpful as a jump-start into using the search commands.

Concepts

The Splunk platform does not store data in a conventional database. Rather, it stores data in a distributed, non-relational, semi-structured database with an implicit time dimension. Relational databases require that all table columns be defined up-front and they do not automatically scale by just plugging in new hardware. However, there are analogues to many of the concepts in the database world.

Database Concept

Splunk Concept

Notes

SQL query

Splunk search

A Splunk search retrieves indexed data and can perform transforming and reporting operations. Results from one search can be "piped", or transferred, from command to command, to filter, modify, reorder, and group your results.

table/view

search results

Search results can be thought of as a database view, a dynamically generated table of rows, with columns.

index

index

All values and fields are indexed by Splunk software, so there is no need to manually add, update, drop, or even think about indexing columns. Everything can be quickly retrieved automatically.

row

result/event

A result in a Splunk search is a list of fields (i.e., column) values, corresponding to a table row. An event is a result that has a timestamp and raw text. Typically an event is a record from a log file, such as:

Fields are returned dynamically from a search, meaning that one search might return a set of fields, while another search might return another set. After teaching Splunk software how to extract more fields from the raw underlying data, the same search will return more fields than it previously did. Fields are not tied to a datatype.

database/schema

index/app

A Splunk index is a collection of data, somewhat like a database has a collection of tables. Domain knowledge of that data, how to extract it, what reports to run, etc, are stored in a Splunk application.

From SQL to Splunk SPL

The examples below use the value of the Splunk field "source" as a proxy for "table". In Splunk software, "source" is the name of the file, stream, or other input from which a particular piece of data originates, for example /var/log/messages or UDP:514.

When translating from any language to another, often the translation is longer because of idioms in the original language. Some of the Splunk search examples shown below could be more concise, but for parallelism and clarity, the table and field names are kept the same from the sql. Also, searches rarely need the FIELDS command to filter out columns as the user interface provides a more convenient method; and you never have to use "AND" in boolean searches, as they are implied between terms.

You can rename a column regardless of whether you use the JOIN command, a lookup, or a subsearch.

LEFT (OUTER) JOIN

SELECT *

FROM mytable1

LEFT JOIN mytable2

ON mytable1.mycolumn=mytable2.mycolumn

source=mytable1

| JOIN type=left mycolumn [ SEARCH source=mytable2 ]

SELECT INTO

SELECT *

INTO new_mytable IN mydb2

FROM old_mytable

source=old_mytable

| EVAL source=new_mytable

| COLLECT index=mydb2

Note: COLLECT is typically used to store expensively calculated fields back into your Splunk deployment so that future access is much faster. This current example is atypical but shown for comparison to the SQL command. The source will be renamed orig_source

TRUNCATE TABLE

TRUNCATE TABLE mytable

source=mytable

| DELETE

INSERT INTO

INSERT INTO mytable

VALUES (value1, value2, value3,....)

Note: see SELECT INTO. Individual records are not added via the search language, but can be added via the API if need be.

UNION

SELECT mycolumn

FROM mytable1

UNION

SELECT mycolumn FROM mytable2

source=mytable1

| APPEND [ SEARCH source=mytable2]

| DEDUP mycolumn

UNION ALL

SELECT *

FROM mytable1

UNION ALL

SELECT * FROM mytable2

source=mytable1

| APPEND [ SEARCH source=mytable2]

DELETE

DELETE FROM mytable

WHERE mycolumn=5

source=mytable1 mycolumn=5

| DELETE

UPDATE

UPDATE mytable

SET column1=value, column2=value,...

WHERE some_column=some_value

Note: There are a few things to think about when updating records in Splunk Enterprise. First, you can just add the new values to your Splunk deployment (see INSERT INTO) and not worry about deleting the old values, because Splunk software always returns the most recent results first. Second, on retrieval, you can always de-duplicate the results to ensure only the latest values are used (see SELECT DISTINCT). Finally, you can actually delete the old records (see DELETE).

Splunk SPL for SQL users

Enter your email address, and someone from the documentation team will respond to you:

Please provide your comments here. Ask a question or make a suggestion.

Feedback submitted, thanks!

You must be logged into splunk.com in order to post comments.
Log in now.

Please try to keep this discussion focused on the content covered in this documentation topic.
If you have a more general question about Splunk functionality or are experiencing a difficulty with Splunk,
consider posting a question to Splunkbase Answers.